Industry research puts average blended advisory fees at roughly 1.00% to 1.20% a year for portfolios under $1 million and 0.80% to 1.00% above $2 million, with 58% of firms using schedules that step down as the account grows. Automated management is published near 0.25% and includes no person. Our standard schedule is 1.5% to 2.0%, which is above the average — a gap that is hard to defend on a large simple portfolio and inverts entirely on the small accounts most firms will not open. Our rate can also be set lower at the adviser's discretion, as low as 0%, which is something a firm pricing by product cannot do.
What the market actually charges
Two independent industry studies, both from 2024 and both widely cited:
| Portfolio size | What the research finds |
|---|---|
| Under $1 million | Average blended fees of 100 to 120 basis points — 1.00% to 1.20% a year (Kitces Research, 2024) |
| At $1 million | 62% of advisers charge at least 1% (Inside Information, Fees In Motion, 2024) |
| At $2 million | Only 32% still charge 1% or more — the rate falls as the account grows (same study) |
| Over $2 million | Average blended fees of 80 to 100 basis points (Kitces Research, 2024) |
| How firms structure it | 58% use graduated schedules where the rate steps down in bands; 11% use cliff structures; flat schedules are the smallest group (Kitces Research on Advisor Productivity) |
Add to that the automated end of the market, where published rates for algorithmic portfolio management sit near 0.25% and hybrid services with limited human access sit somewhere between.
Where we sit, stated plainly
Our standard schedule is 1.5% to 2.0% a year, which is above the industry average. We would rather write that sentence ourselves than have you find it elsewhere and stop believing the rest of the page.
Three things are true at the same time, and a fee page that gives you only one of them is selling:
- On a large, straightforward portfolio, our standard rate is more than the market average and you should say so out loud. At $1 million the industry average is roughly $10,000 to $12,000 a year; the top of our standard schedule is $20,000. That gap needs a reason, and “we work harder” is not one.
- On the accounts this firm was built for, the comparison inverts. Most of the industry will not open an account below $250,000 at all, and the automated alternative at 0.25% does not include a person. At $50,000 our fee is $750 to $1,000 a year for a human fiduciary who answers the phone; the market alternative is not a cheaper adviser, it is no adviser.
- And our rate is not fixed. See below. That is the part almost no firm our size can offer and no firm much larger can offer at all.
The thing a large firm structurally cannot do
Underneath the standard schedule, the adviser handling your account can set your rate lower at their own discretion — as far down as 0%. Not a committee. Not a retention offer you have to threaten to leave to get. The person doing the work decides.
This is not generosity, it is a consequence of size, and it is worth understanding why the large firms cannot match it:
- A published rate card at scale has to be uniform. A firm with tens of thousands of clients prices by tier because it cannot price by situation — and once a rate is a product, an individual adviser cannot move it.
- Pricing authority does not sit with the adviser. At a firm of any size the person across the table is an employee executing a schedule set somewhere above them. Ours is the person who set it.
- Uniform pricing is how a firm avoids arguing about fairness. That is a defensible choice, and its cost is that a household whose situation genuinely warrants a lower rate cannot be given one.
Situations where a rate below the standard schedule gets set here include a household consolidating several accounts at once, a client arriving through a family relationship already at the firm, a plan-sponsor relationship where the firm is already paid at the plan level, and cases where the honest answer is that the work does not justify the standard rate. Ask. It is a fair question and it gets a straight answer.
Whatever rate applies to you is written into your advisory agreement before you engage, and it does not move without your signature.
Compare on all-in cost, not on the advisory fee
The advisory fee is one layer of three, and the other two are where comparisons usually go wrong:
| Layer | What it is | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory fee | What the adviser charges to manage the account | Form ADV Part 2A, Item 5 — public at adviserinfo.sec.gov for every registered firm |
| Fund expenses | The annual cost inside each fund or ETF you hold | Each fund's prospectus or fact sheet. Ours are index funds and we disclose them |
| Product revenue | Commissions, 12b-1 fees, revenue sharing, referral payments | Form ADV Part 2A, Items 5, 10 and 14. Ours are all zero |
A 1% adviser selling funds that pay them, in share classes that cost you a percent, is more expensive than a 1.75% adviser who takes nothing from anyone but you. Add the layers before you compare. Run any firm’s numbers, including ours →
How to price any adviser, in four questions
- What is your fee, and is it on a published schedule I can read? If it is not written down anywhere, that is the answer.
- Does the rate step down as the account grows, and at what levels? 58% of firms do this. If theirs does not, ask why.
- What else are you paid, by anyone other than me? Then check the answer against Form ADV Part 2A, Items 5, 10 and 14.
- Can the person I am talking to change my rate, or does someone else decide? The answer tells you where you actually sit in that firm.
Common questions
Is 1.5% to 2% too much for a financial adviser?
It is above the industry average, which for portfolios under $1 million runs roughly 1.00% to 1.20% a year. Whether it is too much depends on the account and the work. On a large, simple portfolio it is hard to defend and we would say so. On a smaller account that most firms will not take at all, the real alternative is not a cheaper adviser but no adviser. And our rate can be set lower at the adviser's discretion, which is a conversation worth having before you decide.
Why not just charge the market rate?
Because the market rate is built for accounts we do not require. A firm with a $250,000 minimum can charge 1% and still be paid $2,500 to open a relationship. At our $0 minimum, 1% of a $20,000 account is $200 a year, which does not pay for a human being. The higher rate on small accounts is what makes the $0 minimum possible; the discretion is what stops it being unfair to the accounts that grow.
Do fees come down as my account grows?
The adviser can set a lower rate at their discretion at any size, and that is what happens today. A published breakpoint schedule is under consideration and would have to be filed in our Form ADV before it applied. Ask what your rate is and what it would be at double the balance; you are entitled to both answers.
What does Aduna Capital charge?
The standard schedule is 1.5% to 2.0% of assets under management per year, billed quarterly in arrears, with no minimum to open and $50 a month thereafter. An adviser may set a lower rate at their own discretion, as low as 0%. The full schedule, with a calculator that gives you the dollar figure →
Ask what your rate would be
Fifteen minutes, free. Bring another firm's proposal and we will add up all three layers on both, including the layers that favour them.